Never Enough Time
by Oniko
Summary: Hermione's curiosity and Gryffindor bravery get the better of her good sense. SSHG TimeTurner
1. The Ephemeris

Never Enough Time

By Oniko

Created by J. K. Rowling.

Ch. 1 The Ephemeris

Miss Granger, may I have a word with you?" Minerva McGonagall asked after she released the sixth-year Gryffindor/Slytherin class.

"Of course Professor." Hermione waved on Ron and Harry with a promise to meet at lunch.

"I believe I have solved the problem of your tutoring schedule." Mcgonagall smiled at her and pulled out a small time-turner like the one she had used in her third year. Hermione reflexively took a step back.

"Professor, are you sure that's a good idea." Hermione asked. "My third year…"

"Was entirely a case of too much work and too little sleep, I am sure. I have assured the Headmaster that you are older and wiser and will use the thing responsibly this time." Hermione bit back a retort at the inherent irony in that statement. "And really the younger students need the help, it should only be a few hours a week for those completely conflicting schedules." So that's what this was about. Gryffindor's star chasers were failing potions, and charms, and everything except transfig. The trio of fourth-year hellions whined about their taxing practice schedules when the only slot she could cram a study group in was right after quiddich practice. Poor babies couldn't screw around with the rest of the team afterwards anymore. She frowned but didn't bother pointing out that the boys would be fine if they just applied themselves. They were too lazy, that was the problem. And now if they didn't pull their grades up by the end of term, off the team for them. Which threatened Gryffindor's six-year winning streak since Ravenclaw had a decent team this year with their new seeker pulling the snitch out from under Harry's nose a time or two in practice. There was no arguing with McGonagall and quiddich. So she did the only that she could. "Fine, when is the new study group?"

McGonagall smiled at her "That's a dear, I knew I could count on you. I was thinking…" Hermione rolled her eyes at McGonagall's back as she pulled out a modified schedule. Not too bad a couple extra hours a week, she even scheduled in an extra hour of "free time" Thursday evening. Hermione accepted the time-turner and new schedule with considerably more grace then she was currently feeling. Her new plans for this evening was a two-hour slot with the chasers-from-hell in the potions lab while she was holed up in the library on charms at opposite ends of the school. Of course, keep her two "selves" as far away from each other as possible.

Harry and Ron were decidedly not sympathetic. She should have known better, really. They were just as quiddich mad as McGonagall. She fumed her way through Ancient Runes and her charms project. She decided to stall as long as possible and played a game of chess with Ron in the Gryffindor common room before heading on to her new study group using the time-turner. In the potions classroom she leaned against the speaker's podium and closed her eyes, letting the cool air of the dungeons calm her frazzled nerves.

"Miss Granger?" Snape. Lovely. She just needed his acid wit to make her day compete. She opened her eyes reluctantly and turned to him.

"Yes, Professor?"

He hesitated a moment before speaking. "Professor McGonagall informed me that you would be using this room for a study session." She nodded briefly. And he folded his arms glaring at her "Mind you, this entire fiasco is against my better judgment. I am holding you personally responsible anything that occurs within this room for the evening and if I find a single thing out of place…"

"Professor," She cut him off and inched the bridge of her nose hoping to stave off the headache she could feel coming on. "For the record, this was entirely against my better judgment as well. As this is intended to only be a study sessions we will not be performing practicals in either charms or potions so nothing should befall your classroom. And as for your yet unspoken paranoia about your precious storeroom, please by all means, take what ever steps you deem necessary and leave me out of it."

"Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Miss Granger." Snape said as he stalked out without a backwards glance.

"Yes, sir." She snarled at his back. The terrible trio was five minutes late. As annoying as it was she was relieved at the opportunity to calm herself before facing them. At ten minutes, she was calm, centered and feeling better then she had been all day. At 15 minutes any good feelings had evaporated. At thirty none of her books held her interest and she paced the classroom wishing she could go to bed but no, because she had fooled around playing chess with Ron she couldn't go to either the library or Gryffindor without risking running into herself. So she was trapped in the dungeon for two hours. She sat down and buried her head in her arms at her usual seat in the classroom. There must be some way to get those hours back, but she only knew how to turn back a few hours. To make matter worse she only brought what she needed for an evening of studying, maybe she brought a few extra books, but none of them was what she wanted or needed at the moment. She checked the clock again, one hour and twenty minutes to go. "Today sucks." She murmured as she fell asleep.

"-nger. Miss Granger! Fifteen points from Gryffindor if you do not wake up this instant and tell me what you are still doing here." Snape, again. She knuckled her eyes, as they were gummy from sleep.

"What time is it?" She attempted to ask it came out rather slurred.

"Well past curfew, even for you Miss Granger." She stared at him as her half asleep brain processed the information. The little buggers never showed. Or if they did they found her asleep and left her in the dungeons, and she wasn't sure which prospect was worse. She was going to kill them.

"In that case I would advise you to dispose of the bodies discreetly, but being a Gryffindor such advise would probably be lost on you." Snape observed with a superior smirk. Hermione's hand flew to her mouth.

"I did not just say that out loud."

"Yes, Miss Granger. I'm afraid you did. Now come along. Lets get you back to Gryffindor."

"I can find my way." She objected, rising unsteadily to her feet.

"Of course you can." He said condescendingly. "And Filch can find you in an hour curled up in the Main Hall."

He walked with her, letting her set the pace but keeping her moving and helping her when she stumbled. At the Fat Lady's portrait they paused and she blinked at it trying to remember the password. Snape just snarled something about needing to speak to McGonagall and portrait swung open. Hermione frowned at this, he was a Slytherin and Slytherins weren't allowed in Gryffindor. "I am a professor, Miss Granger, and it is a simple matter of courtesy that I do not enter Gryffindor, not that I cannot." She blinked at him. "Oh for heaven's…to your room with you."

In the end she wasn't entirely sure how she got there but she woke up the next morning under the covers but still in the previous day's uniform with the time-turner's chain strangling her. At least she had the presence of mind to kick off her shoes before getting into bed, as they were not on her feet. With further inspection she discovered them placed neatly side-by-side next to the bed. She yawned and wriggled out of her uniform without leaving the warmth of the sheets and she settled in for a wonderfully late morning. She didn't have class until after lunch, then astronomy after dinner and an extra free hour during astronomy with the time turner.

The time-turner. Of course she couldn't laze about she had to make sure last night wouldn't repeat itself. She fumbled for her book bag briefly before diving back for the warmth and modesty of the thick Gryffindor-red covers. And here it is, a very battered little scroll with miniscule black letter writing and the usual tendency of instructions everywhere of using lots of words to say very little. It didn't really answer her problem directly but one question in the trouble shooting section stuck out at her. **_I'm in the wrong century, how did I get here? How do I get back? _**_Check the ephemeris for the correct date and compare planetary positions with the Temporal Locator, adjust manually as necessary. (see Temporal Locator 3.5.12, manual settings 12.6.21, ephemeris 37.15.5.)_

"Huh? Ephemeris?" she muttered to herself pawing through the pile of books taking up most of the space on her bed. "Dictionary, here dictionary. Here you are."

_Dilandra's Magical Dictionary_ one of her standard references, almost as useful as _Hogwarts- A History_. She opened the thick book and pointed to a blank page. "Ephemeris."

She watched as golden glowing letters in Dilandra's elegant scrip danced along the page before settling themselves into a small entry and darkening to a soft sepia. _Ephem-er-is, noun, Greek, a tabular statement of the assigned places of a celestial body for regular intervals._

"So what does that have to do with the time-turner?" She asked to no one. A habit that usually drove her roommates batty but that she couldn't seem to break. She unfurled the time-turner scroll a little more, a lot more, and checked out the 'ephemeris' entry. The entry itself consisted of massive columns cross-referencing planets and dates and further lumped together by location. She found the listings themselves, however, to be completely incomprehensible symbols followed by apparently random numbers interspersed with degrees or minute marks. Interestingly only the outer planets were listed and it took her a few moments to find an explanation. _This information will keep you within an era that has access to a more complete ephemeris, if needed please check a local library, either Magical or Muggle._

"Well, I will definitely do that." She said while rolling the scroll up to read an earlier entry. _The Temporal Locator can be found on the bottom surface of the time-turner…_ She fished the object in question out of her clothes and flipped it over. On the bottom surface there was a number of small beads with the symbols of the planets set into concentric circular tracks. The outer edge didn't have any little beads but was divided up into twelve even segments marked with arcane symbols and was further scored with dozens lines of uneven but regular lengths like a ruler. In the very center was a… well, it looked like a screw for a Phillips screwdriver but that couldn't possibly be right. She turned back to the scroll and continued reading. Apparently, the locator used the position of the planets to determine when you are supposed to be and they could be manually adjusted by turning the hourglass, which moved the markers back one hour per revolution or by moving the beads around. She poked at the little beads, they didn't move.

"Weird." She said, but her stomach decided to interrupt her and growled loudly. Time to get up and get the day started. On the bright side it couldn't get any worse then yesterday. She mused as she got dressed and made her way to the Great Hall. Of course, she may have spoken too soon. Her appearance caused a bit of a stir among the Gryffindors. As she sat down Ron kicked her hard under the table.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Did you see the points we lost last night?" Ron demanded. "One hundred and twenty-five all told between Snape and McGonagall."

"Hey, at most I lost twenty." She said, "I don't know were the rest came from."

"Twenty?" Harry asked through a mouthful of food.

"Yeah, why?"

"Snape just has you down for five."

"Oh, the other fifteen must've just been a threat." She said and snatched some food from a plate passing by, catching some of the glances being sent her way she finally asked "What?"

One of the chaser-brats decided to put her out of her misery. "If you hadn't ratted on us to Snape we wouldn't have lost any."

"Look, I didn't say anything to Snape." _I don't think. _"He found me in the potions room, where you were supposed to be, last night and escorted me back to Gryffindor, end of story. Whatever happened it's not my fault."

"If we loose the House Cup this year it will be." Someone yelled.

"Screw the House Cup we won't even see the Quiddich Cup." Someone else added. What little food she had managed to eat turned into a heavy lump in her stomach during her impromptu persecution. She threw her fork down with a resounding clang on her plate and stalked out of the Great Hall, fighting tears. _Stupid jocks, why couldn't I have been sorted into Ravenclaw._

When her blurred vision cleared she found herself wandering the stacks of the library and she had already missed the first ten minutes of Magical Cultures with Professor Binns, strangely she couldn't find the energy to care. She frowned, that almost worried her, she could always lose herself in studies. Her wandering steps brought her past the card catalogue, she was looking for something wasn't she? Oh, yes.

"Ephemeris." She spoke clearly and within moments the small rolodex spit out a little card with tiny detailed print. **_Aelrick's Ephemeris for the Ages_**_; Hogwarts ed.; Divination, Astrology, Astronomy, Reference; seven copies _two _checked out _one _missing; Main Circulation, Reference._ She took the card and made a little face at it.

"I hate Divination." She said before heading off to the one area of the library that she had never before willingly set foot in. And, yes, it was as bad as she feared. Soothing blue was crammed next to power red with titles like _Opening the Inner Eye in 13 Magical Steps_ or _Past Life Regression through Meditation._ Brainless topics in blinding colors. No wonder Lavender and Parvati loved this section. They could check out books to match their dress robes. Luckily for her sanity the ephemeredes were located at the very beginning of the section. They were massive tomes bound in sensible age-worn brown leather and covered with a promising layer of dust. She grabbed one and retreated to her favorite study nook. It was located in the back of the library between History and Languages. A window with a lovely southern exposure looked out onto the grounds and the Forbidden Forest. It let in sunlight that warmed the two overstuffed chairs and dark-stained table. There was even a candelabra for late night studying.

Within moments she had her time-turner research spread out across the table and was engrossed in the introduction of the ephemeris. She worked through class and by the time dinner rolled around she had plowed through several books on astrology and could probably read a birth-chart better then Trelawney. Of course, Crookshanks could read a birth-chart better then Trelawney so that wasn't saying much. Hermione couldn't figure out why the woman had to make it seem so… idiotic. Astrology actually made sense as these authors explained it. It was simply that planets and stars exerted a certain influence on individuals there was nothing mystical or dramatic about it. But that was all a side issue, the important thing was that she learned how to interpret the Temporal Locator.

It was basically a geo-centric map of the solar system. The screw-like thing was actually the symbol for the planet Earth and was the central activation key for manually inputting a destination time. Simply unlock with a little twist, re-order the stars, twist the lock back on and the time-turner would whisk it's carrier away to the time when the planets where in that precise position. All in all it was probably a good thing that she hadn't figured this out in her third year. But when did she want to go? She was stuck at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade as the time-turner only moved through time any spatial movement would have to be done the old fashioned way, walking. Hmm, the Founding would be interesting, although this ephemeris only listed dates between 1500-2000 so she's have to go get another volume if she wanted to go any further back in time. It was then that her conscience finally kicked in.

This time-turner was for school purposes only. Going back decades or centuries for sightseeing was wrong. Never mind the potential disaster of cross-time contamination or possible paradoxes. She worried her lip between her teeth as she worried the problem in her mind. On the other hand, those so called "school purposes" weren't all that pristine. It was just so those ungrateful brats could get a tutor. Why couldn't _she _have some fun, do something wild and crazy for a change instead of getting dragged into it kicking and screaming by Ron or Harry as usual.

Decisively she shut the thick ephemeris and balanced it on its spine before letting it fall open. Her dramatic gesture was completely lost on the book, which instead of complying started to roll over onto its front cover. Its only saving grace was that her fingers caught on some of the pages. A couple were fanned over before settling somewhere towards the end of the book. October 1978. Twenty years ago. Well, it was a start.

She already had today's information worked out from when she trying to decipher the Temporal Locator so she was set for coming back. She snagged a clean piece of parchment and began jotting down notes for her destination. The excitement of the impending adventure was starting to get to her and she hummed happily as she planned out her little trip, completely forgetting the trouble that had chased her into the library in the first place.

By the time her astronomy class had started she was ready to go, but not to class. She decided to bring along the ephemeris and _Basic Astrology_ along with the scattered reams of notes she made just in case something went wrong. And she discovered, or rather re-discovered since she had forgotten since her third year, problem number one of time-travel. You can only take what you can carry, and you need both hands to work the time-turner. She could run back to get her bag, but she was too excited, she wanted to do this _right now._ So she crouched down in the corner as far out of the traffic-flow pattern as possible. That was another lesson from her third year experiences, traveling in on top of somebody made for a new and awkward variant of being splinched. She balanced herself precariously on her heels with the books and papers in her lap. She pulled the time-turner out from under her shirt and a mangled quill from her hair. With the quill tip she carefully unlocked the time-turner and pushed the beads around to their correct degrees and minutes, and with one last little prayer she twisted the lock back on and was instantly engulfed in darkness.

Blindly, she tucked the time turner back into her shirt and waited for her eyes to adjust. It shouldn't be dark so something must've gone wrong and she didn't want to try casting magic until she figured out what exactly. She was just beginning to make out the forms of the bookshelves around her when a smooth, low voice came out of the darkness. "Well, what have we here? A little Gryffindor out of bed?"

"Professor?" She yelped, and lost her balance. She fell back onto her tailbone and rapped her head against the wall. Her books and notes scattered from her lap.

"No, but I could get you one if you like. _Lumos,"_ The small candelabra on the table lit up illuminating the harsh features of Severus Snape. She held the back of her head and blinked up at him through the flashing spots in her eyes. He was dressed in the school uniform with the Slytherin House crest and a Prefects badge pinned to his chest. She stared at him dumbfounded as he knelt down as started picking up her scattered notes. "What's this?"

"A- er- a project." She muttered vaguely, and winced. _Okay, next time come up with good cover story first. _He gave a look of disgust at the astrology book. "Divination?"

She fidgeted a bit, she was a terrible liar and she knew it. But the truth would get her into so much trouble. So, stall, maybe he would move on to another, less treacherous topic. So she mustered all the contempt for the subject that she felt and said. "I hate divination."

"Right. So why are you sneaking into the library, in the middle of the night mind you, doing homework for a class you hate?" Of course, she really should have seen that one coming. What is it that Ron said to do next? Ah, yes. Diversion.

"Well, you see, I have this test in potions tomorrow…" Completely true, aside from the inherent complexities of when exactly 'tomorrow' was, and completely unrelated. According to Harry and Ron he should make the intervening connections for her and she won't be technically lying. Although, why she was taking their advise she will never know they get caught half the time anyways. He nodded and set her stuff on the table before helping her to stand. "I know Figg can be an anal retentive bitch in class… what? She's _my _Head of House… but you really shouldn't let her get to you like that. Not to the point where you're sneaking into the library at-" he checked the clock "quarter to midnight to do homework for your other classes."

She was still staring at him in shock, _Snape accusing someone else of being anal retentive? _When the rest of what he said sunk in. Quarter to midnight? She was aiming for seven o'clock. Did she even get the right day? She grabbed her quill and started scribbling notes down on her diagram and asked absently "What is the date?"

"Considering that you are the one with the cracked skull shouldn't I be asking you that?" She stared at him wide-eyed. She really needed to stop thinking aloud, especially around Snape. He smirked at her and said slowly as if speaking to an idiot. "October sixteenth, nineteen seventy-eight."

She bristled a bit at his attitude, but thought better of actually saying anything. It wouldn't do to look a gift horse in the mouth after all. She wrote that down and compared it with her target date, October twentieth at seven o'clock. She chewed her lip and tried to work out where exactly she made the mistake. She was so absorbed by her puzzle that she had completely forgotten about Severus Snape until he leaned forward to look over her shoulder. She jumped again and turned to look at him, he was regarding her with a curious glint in his eyes. "It's just- um- been one of those days, you know? I can't remember if it's Thursday or Friday."

"It's Monday."

"See, my point exactly." She winced, she sounded like such a flake. But she wrote that information down too. Snape suddenly snatched the parchment from her and tucked it into the ephemeris ignoring her protests. He picked up the books she brought with her and turned away. "C'mon, let's get you back to Gryffindor."

_Dejavu, anyone?_ "I can get there on my own."

"Sure you can." He said condescendingly. "Look, you probably have a concussion and I should be walking you to the Hospital Wing. You're lucky I'm pressed for time and Gryffindor's closer."

"I do not have a concussion." She objected. "I know what a concussion feels like, I've had them before. And believe me this is not it."

He rolled his eyes. "You're a Gryffindor it goes without saying that you've been soundly knocked on your head before. Have your roommates wake you up every hour on the hour, just in case."

"I'm fine. Now if you'll give me my books back…"

"Promise me."

She blinked. "That I'm fine? Sure."

"No," he said, patiently. "That you'll get your roommates to keep an eye on you."

_Where is he going with this? _She wondered "Why?"

He sighed. "If you die in your sleep from your own Gryffindor-ish stupidity. I will find myself with saddled with muscle-bound Gryffindor idiots blustering and threatening me as the Slytherin involved." Every time he said "Gryffindor" he stressed the word heavily making it sound like something vile.

"I am not going to die in my sleep. I'm fine."

"Promise."

"Why should you believe any promise that I make?" She tried another tactic.

"Because you're a Gryffindor."

_Okay, he has a point there, and he likely wasn't going to give up. _ "Fine."

"What?"

"I promise to have someone wake me every hour." She said growling slightly.

"See that wasn't so hard." He smiled. He had a nice boyish smile that completely transformed his features into something… she hesitated to say handsome, but nice, very nice. They continue walking through the empty school in silence. She kept on trying to sneak glances at him to compare to the older version that stalked the dungeons but it was growing increasingly difficult to do so unnoticed as he kept giving her sidelong looks as well. "If you're having trouble in Potions…"

"Oh, no. It's not a problem. It's just that I like to be absolutely sure of myself. Especially before a test."

"I know what you mean. I get downright paranoid myself, even when I _know_ the subject, like potions." He laughed at something he saw in her expression. "Yes, I know potions. The rumors regarding my allegedly blowing up the Slytherin dorm in my fifth year is mostly unfounded."

She couldn't help but smile. "Mostly?"

"Yes, mostly." He proceeded to regale her with tales of potions explosions, both accidental and orchestrated, that left her laughing and out of breath despite her throbbing head. She accused him of torturing her and told him a few stories of Neville's creative potion making skills that she had saved her class from time and again. That conversation segued into one comparing what potions they had brewed that was _not _on the syllabus. When he mentioned brewing poly-juice last year she made a derisive sound. "Oh, please, I brewed that in my second year."

_Oh, shit._ Her brain very belatedly caught up with her mouth and reminded her that this was _Severus Snape_, her potions _professor, _that she was blithely telling about illegal potion brewing.

"You did not." He sounded impressed.

_Oh, well, in for a penny in for a pound._ "Yep and it worked too, mostly."

"Mostly? How do you get poly-juice to mostly work?"

"Well, you see, I had to brew three doses. The first two worked fine. But the third one, mine incidently, had some cat fur mixed up in the hair sample." He groaned appropriately. "And I spent a month in the hospital wing with fur and a tail." They both laughed at the mental image. It was the first time Hermione had been able to even think of the incident without a sharp sense of acute embarrassment and failure. As their laughter died away they reached the Fat Lady's portrait and she found herself wishing for some more tome to talk with this younger Severus Snape. It was so nice to not have to talk down to someone or have them blow her off as a snotty know-it-all. They stared at each other in an increasingly awkward silence.

"Well?" He finally asked.

"'Well' what?" She conceded nothing.

"Aren't you going to open the door?" _Considering that I have no clue what the password now is; no, not anytime soon. _She merely raised an eyebrow and looked at him. He made a strange face and handed her her books. "Right. Well, here you are. Good luck with your test."

"Thanks." She turned to look at the expectantly waiting portrait.

"Um, hey." Snape called, she looked back to see that he was almost around the corner before turning back. "Are you going to the game Saturday?"

"What game?" She asked.

"The Gryffindor/Slytherin match, of course." He said sounding exasperated. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head harder then you think?"

"Oh, for the last time, I'm fine." She was considering how to answer his first question when she realized that he was flirting with her. That he, in fact, had been flirting with her the entire walk to Gryffindor. And she was flirting back. She was flirting with Severus Snape. Ron and Harry were never going to believe this. "I don't know why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering." He said with artful dismissive ness. "It's not common knowledge yet but I dueled for Slytherin Seeker, and won. Saturday's my first game."

"Oh, well, probably not then." She said…_did he look, hurt?_ "'Cause, then I would have to cheer for Gryffindor." _I did not just say that!_ "But I practically live in the library, so maybe I'll see you around."

He smiled at her, that bright boyish smile. "Right, see you around then."

She waited until he was gone for good before pulling out the time-turner and her notes. Definitely going to be visiting here later, but for now, to home and to bed. Hopefully she could get Harry to sit with her. Ron was probably still mad, and there was no point in asking Lavender or Parvati, they would just moan and gripe about missing their beauty sleep.

... ... ...

Severus Snape walked back to the library after escorting the Gryffindor girl back to Gryffindor Tower and fought the silly-stupid grin that he could feel threatening to break out on his face. It was amazing. A girl, a Gryffindor at that, with something that passes for a brain underneath all that hair. _Unless she knocks herself completely silly one of these days._ And that hair, soft waves of mahogany pinned in a messy yet strangely elegant French twist with quills of all things. He wondered if she was even aware that the ink-soaked quills had left streaks of black staining her curls. She-

"Oh, Sev. You are an idiot." He groaned and slapped himself on the forehead. He didn't get the girl's name, it completely slipped his mind. Briefly he debated going back to Gryffindor to ask but he couldn't honestly come up with a scenario that didn't wind up making Crabbe look like _Witch Weekly's _Bachelor of the Year. _Oh, well. I'm late enough as it is._

"Where the hell have you been?" Lucius Malfoy Hissed after Severus closed the library door behind him.

"Sorry, Prefect duties. Unless you want to be discovered by goody-goody Gryffindors."

Goyle patted his wand. "Let them come."

"Don't be any more of an idiot then you already are." Lucius snapped. "Do you want Figg, or worse McGonagall, breathing down out necks? Good work Snape. Now lets get going. Lord Voldemort doesn't like to be kept waiting."

... ... ...

AN: Well I hope I didn't bore anyone. Please tell me what you think criticism welcome, especially the constructive kind.

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	2. The Potion

Never Enough Time

Ch. 2: The Potion

Severus found himself jumping at every flash of red and gold searching for the Gryffindor girl from Monday evening. He knew all of the Seventh years from class so she was probably a sixth year, maybe fifth, but definitely not any younger. His gaze raked over the Griffendor table. Not many showed up for breakfast Sunday mornings, especially as the quiddich game lasted well into the night. He wondered idlely when she ate. She never seemed to be at the meals or at least not when he was. She didn't come to the game either and he looked through the Gryffindor crowd from his high vantage point several times. He felt strangely disappointed and elated that she wasn't there. Could she have meant what she said? That she didn't what to cheer for Griffendor if he was playing against them

After breakfast he headed to the library. He had taken to doing almost all of his studying there rather than in his room as he usually did. As had become routine over the past week he circle through the library checking all of the nooks and crannies before settling down at a table by the door. He chided himself for his almost inevitable disappointment. _Sev you are obsessed. And she's a _Gryffindor _for Circe's sake!_

He shook his head ruefully and buried himself in researching alternate ingredients for his potions project. He wasn't disturbed until hours later when Black and Pettigrew burst into the library with their typical Gryffindor bluster earning them a dirty look and deducted points from Mrs. Pince.

"Well, Well. If it isn't the Snakes' new seeker." Black said obnoxious and loud as always. "Enjoy your win while you can. That foul was a fluke."

"And what about the other six?" Severus asked. Potter, Gryffindor's chaser actually got caught by Madam Hooch last game messing up the Slytherin team. Not that Severus was above creative quiddich himself but at least he made sure he didn't get caught, or better yet get it blamed on Potter. Not that Potter actually needed any help in that area. Their usual mutual antipathy regularly got them both landed in detention but this was the first time they faced each other across the quiddich pitch and Potter couldn't behave so the captain had to bring in a reserve chaser. Regardless of what else Severus had to say about Potter, he was a good player and without him Gryffindor was doomed.

Black loomed over him and growled. Severus just leaned back in the chair and raised an eyebrow, trying not to grin at the other boy. He really should know better by now than to play mind games with a Slytherin. After a few moments of staring Black conceded the field and turned away with a huff. "It won't last we'll pound Revenclaw and Hufflepuff."

Severus just smirked at Black's retreating back and refrained from pointing out that neither team had a chance of defeating Slytherin either. Any further comment though would just invite Black to continue inflicting his presence on Severus. He watched at the two Gryffindors wandered into the stacks out of his sight before turning back to his research. However he found it harder to lose himself in his work, knowing Black was in the same room with him made him more than a little nervous.

He started flipping through books and notes, he needed…something. Restless he slammed the last book shut and stalked back to the potions section. He ran his fingers over the worn spines of books he know by heart. He was at the far end of Potions and about to head into Herbology when he heard it. A low, gruff voice that grated on his nerves, Black, and a soft feminine reply. They were speaking too low to be understood. His feet turned his towards the voices against his better sense. The last thing he wanted to see was some brainless chit of a girl making a fool of herself over Black, but he turned the corner and it was too late. His Gryffindor from Monday was standing against the wall talking to Black. Black had his hand against the wall by her head and was leaning into it. Severus could tell by the line of his body he must have just been oozing charisma. Pettigrew stood a few steps away watching but not saying or doing anything. _Disgusting voyeur, probably watched Black shag them too._

Severus watched them despite the increasingly sick feeling in his stomach as the stupid fantasies he built over the past week shattered around him. Of course she wasn't interested in him when, as a _Gryffindor_, she had Black, Lupin and Potter handsome and available for female attention. Well, not so much Potter anymore Evans was possessive.

Black reached out to place his hand at the base of the girl's neck, running his thumb along her collarbone, but instead of leaning into the touch she stepped away. Or tried to, Pettigrew was blocking her exit. Apparently she hadn't been aware of his presence for when she turned her face to him from Black she flinched back violently and ended up right where she started. Severus was shocked by the panicked look on the girl's face and found himself re-evaluating Black even lower in his opinion.

"So, now you've taken to harassing members of your own House. That's low even for you Black." Severus' voice came out smooth and cold, betraying none of the turmoil of emotions that he just went through. Black turned to glare at him and the girl gave him a bright smile of relief. A smile that Black apparently missed completely.

"Belt it, Snape. You're just jealous 'cause no girl would want to spend time with you." Black turned back to the girl, wrapping one arm around her shoulders to her apparent discomfort. "Isn't that right Hermione? You wouldn't want to spent time with this beak-nosed git."

_Hermione? Was that her name? _He considered it a moment _It suits her. _"Well, she doesn't have much of a choice in the matter. The young lady you are pawing is supposed to be helping me with my potions project. Figg says I need an assistant." A blatant lie of course, but the girl- Hermione looked like she desperately needed to be extracted from the situation. And Black wouldn't know any better. He dropped his arm and gave her a look of pitying disgust. Hermione just shrugged at him and walked over to stand by Severus. With a parting glare at Black Severus walked back to the table to collect his books. Hermione followed.

"Um- thanks for the rescue." She stammered, clearly embarrassed.

"Forget it." Severus said dismissively, all the while feeling secretly proud of himself. "I mean it, if this gets out my reputation will be ruined."

She laughed, "Oh, come on. Who would believe it in the first place?" They walked aimlessly along the halls in silence before she asked "So what's this about a potion's assistant?"

"Oh." He clamped down on the blush that threatened at the prospect. "I don't really need any help. I just said that to get Black to back off."

"I could be a big help." She wheedled.

"No, definitely not."

"C'mon, everyone needs someone to do menial dicing and to provide a suitable target for verbal abuse." She said brightly.

He laughed and gave in "With an offer like that how can I refuse. Come along then."

The atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable if silent. Until they passed the potions classrooms at which point Hermione, looking confused, asked, "Um, where are we going?"

"Slytherin." He said and smirked as she froze. "The experiment is set up in my room. You can back out if you're afraid to go into the Serpent's Den. Like I said, I don't need the help." _Oh, that was a low blow, Sev. _ He congratulated himself as he watched her face harden with determination.

"Are you going to tell me about this project of yours?"

"No." He said and grinned at her obvious irritation. "I want to see what you think going in cold."

She waited patiently around the corner for him to use the passwords and once inside stayed close to him. Some of the younger Slytherins gave them odd looks but no one said anything. Once they reached the safety of his room he watched as she poked around his mixtures and ingredients. He was grateful prefects got a private room for the millionth time that year as he was sure his ex-roommates would have several choice things to say about bringing a Gryffindor to the dorms.

"Well." She said. "Paint me yellow and call me Helga, but I have no idea what you are doing."

"Take a guess." He encouraged.

"Something…to do with…werewolves?" She asked holding up the crystal vial of werewolf saliva. "And…and vitality potions? I don't get it. Werewolf saliva, werewolf anything, is Dark Magic the curse contaminates everything it touches. I cannot believe Dumbledore approves of this research."

"Believe it. Who do you think gets me the wolf spit?" He finally decided to put her out of her misery and show her his notes. "I'm working on a lycanthrope vaccine."

"But the wolvesbane potion…" She murmured as she read through his work.

"Does next to nothing." He said. "It keeps the mind under human control but that is all. It doesn't keep the man from changing into a wolf or stop the disease from spreading to a scratched or bit human. And that's if you're lucky enough to find a potions master skilled enough to brew it every month in first place. With a vaccine one vial and you're inoculated for life."

He watched her ears perk s she shifted her attention more towards him then her reading, but she didn't look up. "Disease? Not…not a curse?"

"It is a curse, but the spell is on the virus not the person so it has all of the worse properties of both."

"And it's spread through the saliva? Or will any exchange of bodily fluid infect?" The both settled in front of his project that was spread across the two worktables he crammed into his room. She did have some new insight, remarking that lycanthrope, as a disease, seemed to act like something called 'rabies' only non-fatal. That was not a disease listed in _Mungo's Magical Maladies and Malefections_ so he picked her brain on the matter for hours despite the distaste he felt once he understood that it was a Muggle disease. A Muggle animal disease.

After discussing the theoretical into the ground they turned to the more practical aspect of his research, finding a balanced vitality potion. Too much of the saliva and the whole thing was contaminated, infecting rather that protecting the patient. Too much of the purifying aspects in the potion and the curse would be completely wiped out doing absolutely nothing for the patient. By the time they had four cauldrons of variants gently simmering Hermione's eyes were starting to sag. She was using the wall to support her head upright but her fingers still cut the dried roots smoothly and evenly.

"That's enough now. You need a break." He ordered sternly.

"Yes, Professor."

"Don't be smart." He glanced over at her when she stiffened. She had a slightly confused and panicked look on her face. He was about to ask if she was all right when she seemed to recover and flashed him her bright smile and he wondered if he hadn't just imagined it.

"Would you rather I be stupid?" They both stood and stretched, careful not to knock over any of their work. She grimaced and rubbed her backside. "That chair is hard as a rock, my bum is killing me." She said before flopping down on his bed. "Much better."

He smirked and sat down next to her. She had a point, he was stiff and sore as well from hunching over potions ingredients but he wasn't about to admit to it. He watched the potions for a moment before asking. "So, do you think the dark moonflower will help any? I was hoping to find something more common…"

He trailed off when he felt her lean into him. He looked down at her in surprise, she has slumped over against him, fast asleep. Even in her sleep she had her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He smiled and gently leaned her back against the pillows. She must have been exhausted, it wasn't even dinner yet. He lifted her legs onto the bed and tried not to notice how very short the Hogwarts school uniform was and what the black robes didn't fully cover. He took off her shoes and placed them side-by-side next to the bed before tucking a green throw over her. Then he settled on the stool to watch the potions simmer.

... ... ...

Hermione woke up slowly. She could tell she fell asleep in her uniform yet again. She groaned and stretched and stretched and realized she wasn't in her bed. Her hand patted the empty side of the bed as her brain slowly started working again.

"Looking for someone?" A cold voice asked. Her eyes snapped open and she found herself staring up at an impassive Severus Snape. Finally she remembered where she was, when she was. She had come to the past after dinner and stayed much longer then she had planned. She blushed in embarrassment, he must think her very strange passing out like that even though she had been awake for well over twenty hours consecutively.

"Ah, some_thing _actually." She said as she sat up. "I'm afraid I take Father Scholarly's Lover rather to extremes and it was a little disconcerting to wake up without them."

"Father what?" he asked looking baffled "Them?"

"Father Scholarly's Lover." She said. "I take it you never heard the story then? Oh, well then, there was this priest, Father Scholarly, whose one luxury was a massive bed. The servants were terribly scandalized to find the impression of two bodies when the room was cleaned each morning. So one night they snuck into Father Scholarly's room to catch him in the act only to find him alone in the bed with a pile of books." She smiled "I find it rather useful, saves on having to get out of bed when I want to read something. Except for this one time, in my third year I think, I rolled over onto the _Monster Book of Monsters_ and had to take a midnight trip to the Hospital Wing."

He seemed to relax and almost smiled. At that moment there came a loud insistent meow from the floor. Hermione looked down to see the biggest cat, outside of Crookshanks, she'd ever seen. It was a black so dark it had a sheen of blue highlights, and purple eyes.

"Hello, who's this?" Hermione got off the bed and knelt down next to the cat. "Part kneazle isn't he?"

"She, is yes. Nightshade is my familiar. How can you tell she's a kneazle, most people don't know them from regular cats."

"My cat, Crookshanks, is too. After a while you can just tell." She said holder her hand out for Nightshade to sniff. She pulled back sharply when Nightshade took a casual swipe at Hermione's fingers and growled her complaint. "She doesn't seem to like me."

"It only makes sense. Cats are intelligent, perceptive and very, very possessive." He said helping her to her feet.

"Of course they are. I've said as much about Crookshanks myself. But how does that explain her dislike of me?" She mentally braced herself for one of the multitude of cutting remarks that strait line invited.

"Quite simply that she doesn't like the idea of having to share her wizard with a witch."

"What?" Hermione looked up into Severus' dark eyes. She was keenly aware of the hands that helped her to stand and never released her arms. He was standing so close to her, yet their bodies barely brushed against each other. Slowly he lowered his head, she could feel his breath on her cheek, and he hesitated. She almost whimpered she wanted him to complete the motion so badly. He stood there holding her gently a breath away from kissing her but frozen and unmoving. Her face was tilted up to him, eyes half closed and a slight flush brightening her cheeks. And he was so very, very close. She just leaned forward slightly and her lips brushed softly against his sending a tingling sensation from their contact, down her throat, and down someplace deeper. She felt his mouth curve into a smile and his soft chuckle reverberated along the core of her being. She pulled back and looked up into his glittering black eyes.

"You are such a Gryffindor." He said. It was the first time she heard him say the word without making it sound like an insult. She frowned at him in confusion and started to pull away but his hold tightened and one hand came up to grip her hair gently but firmly.

"Wha-" She started to ask but then he was kissing her. His tongue was gently exploring her open mouth and his hands pressing her against him. She didn't know how long they stood there lost in each other, forever and not nearly long enough, when the sickly sweet smell of burning candy intruded on them. The broke apart with startle curses as the potions boiled over. Severus dove for the cauldrons with cooling charms and purified the overflow. She opened the windows and started fanning the smoke outside. The cool night air hit her overheated body like a slap and she looked out on the stars shining brightly in the night sky.

"Severus, how long was I asleep?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Long enough. I figured you must've needed it."

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll walk you back to Gryffindor."

... ... ...

Hermione gazed out the library's window and wished she were back in the past. She had to get her work done first and Arithmancy was the last thing on her mind with Severus around, and when he was not around as well for that matter. Lavender and Parvati were right about one thing. There was something to be said about Slytherin boys. Even Crabbe and Goyle were handsome in an American Footballer kind of way. The elder, that is, their son's were seriously lacking. She had got a good look at them when Severus escorted her back to Gryffindor tower. Lucius Malfoy and his two bodyguards caught up with them before they left Slytherin. She had to stand far enough away that she couldn't hear then but she also couldn't leave Severus' line of sight. So she stood at the far end of the room watching the four boys talk. It was mostly Malfoy doing the talking. He was drop-dead gorgeous, like a marble statue. And Severus was… how did her cousin put it again, oh yes, sexy-ugly. He was not cute, or handsome, or beautiful. Or, in fact, aesthetically pleasing in anyway. But, there was just some indescribable quality that made him very shag-worthy. And, dear God, could he kiss. She sighed happily.

"Hey, 'Mione." She looked up as Harry slid into the chair across from her. "I- um- don't take Ron too seriously. You know how he gets."

She blinked at him. She had almost forgot about the incident at the dinner table. Was that only a few days ago? It felt like forever. She smiled brightly, she'd been doing that a lot more recently. "It's okay, really. A couple of more days and he'll forget there was even a problem." _Not to mention forget there was anything to apologize for._

"Yeah." Harry smiled weakly back at her but his smile faded and he looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Um… are you…okay?"

"Everything is fine." She smiled again. _Everything was more then fine._

"Well, you've been acting a bit... strange." Harry said refusing to look her in the eye. "So, I was kind of…worried."

"Strange? How?" She demanded.

"Well, you seem distant, distracted. Like just now you were staring off into space with a smile on your face."

"I see, I'm smiling so something must be wrong."

"No, that's not how I mean it." Harry said, "You're just acting different, that's all. Usually you get so upset when Ron…"

"So, something's wrong because I'm not letting Ron get to me?" She crossed her arms and frowned, it felt distinctly uncomfortable after all those smiles.

"No!" Harry shouted, and then glanced around nervously but there was no one else in this section of the library. "Look, you're acting different and I don't know why. I feel like you're keeping something from me and that worries me."

She sighed, now she felt guilty. McGonagall had made her promise not to tell anyone about the time-turner and was very specific about that including Harry and Ron. So she couldn't very well tell him why she was so happy, regardless of how badly she wanted to.

"That's because I am." She said with brutal honestly. "But please don't ask because I would tell you if I could but I can't."

"I understand." He said. And cut to the heart of the matter with insight that startled even her, who should be used to it. "Does…does he treat you well?"

She nodded and her smile was blinding. "Yes, yes he does."

"Good, 'cause if he doesn't…" Harry slapped his fist into his open palm suggestively. "Well, I got divination, so I'll see you around Hermione."

"Right." Hermione tried to study for a few minutes more before giving it up as a lost cause and pulling out the time-turner and accompanying books, the ephemeris and a 1978 calendar. Since she was planning on going back regularly she thought it best to log when she went to avoid confusing either herself or Severus. She very carefully checked and re-checked her target destination. She threw off her first trip by confusing the astrological symbols for Virgo and Scorpio, which of course put Mercury in a very different area of the sky.

Over the next few weeks she found herself spending more and more time in the past. Usually she was with Severus but she would sometimes run into others, like the Marauders. The first time she saw James Potter she nearly had a heart attack thinking it was Harry. For the most part she avoided the other Gryffindors because they tended to ask awkward questions, like who was she and why didn't they know her. She was careful not to let Black corner her again. Thanks to Severus she managed to avoid answering those very same questions. She also avoided him because he was usually with Peter Pettigrew, knowing what she did about Wormtail he just made her skin crawl.

She spent a lot of time in 1978 sleeping in the library as well. The extra hours she was putting in with the time-turner would quickly become a drain if she didn't get extra sleep to balance it out. She went back during the hours when Severus was in classes to sleep in her favorite sun-warmed little nook in the library. Sometimes she woke up to find Severus sitting in the other chair studying or just watching her. Her favorite sleeping spot by far was Severus' room but that was really hard to arrange. She loved the smell of his room of sweet cloves and herbs and of him, and mostly she loved it because she got an entire bed to herself. She really needed to reshelve those books.

Back in her own time potions class was getting really uncomfortable. She kept wondering if he made the connection between her two selves. He never said anything though she sometimes caught him watching her out of the corner of her eye but when she looked strait at him he was looking elsewhere. Not that that was unusual for Snape, he was always looking crossways at her, Harry and Ron waiting for them to break the rules, but it had a whole new set of connotations now. She rarely went through an entire class without blushing at least once thinking about his kiss or his hands on her body not that he was ever anything less then a perfect gentleman. Despite the fact that they were usually alone in his room with a perfectly acceptable bed right there. It was frustrating and whenever she tried to push the matter he just chided her for being a Gryffindor and to be patient.

As December rolled in bringing bitter cold and a thick layer of snow she found herself very content with her life. Studies were going well, it even looked like the Gryffindor chasers were going to pass all their classes for another term. Harry was invited to spend Christmas at the Weasley's and Ron even extended an invitation to her, forgetting the entire incident of the hundred twenty-five points just as she predicted. She declined though and Harry gave her an inquiring look. "I'm going home, my parents are hosting a massive family to do and I get to help get everything ready."

Ron accepted her explanation but Harry cornered her after he left. "Not spending time with your boyfriend?"

"I'm not going to tell you who it is." She said answering the question he was really asking. "But thank you for not telling Ron."

"I figure it was the least I could do to ensure peace in Gryffindor tower." Harry said. "Course you know, once he finds out he is going to have a fit."

"I know, I wish he would get over that stupid crush from forever ago. The jealousies are annoying."

"I think he has." Harry said. She snorted. "No, really. I think he has firmly moved you into the 'family' category. He's just over-protective that's all."

"Oh, that's nice." She said, sarcasm thick in her voice. _Defiantly spending too much time with Sev._ "He doesn't want me so no one else can either."

Harry shrugged. "I didn't say it made sense, but that's Ron for you. If it helps he's the same way with Ginny."

"Does he know about you two yet?"

"Oh, it was great, you missed a scene. She told him at breakfast the morning after and threatened to break his kneecaps if he complained." Harry chuckled. "Did I ever thank you for Ginny's Muggle self-defense lessons?"

She chuckled and yawned covering her mouth with the back of her hand. Nap time as soon as she could get rid of Harry. The moment Harry said his goodbyes and was out of sight she had the time-turner out making the manual adjustments. She had gotten familiar enough with the planets' positions that she no longer needed to tote around the massive ephemeris, just a few notes on the faster moving planets. Within moments she was settling into her chair and was about to fall asleep when movement outside the window caught her attention. A dark figure was standing out alone in the dead gardens below. His dark cloak was a stark contrast to the white snow and gray walls. She couldn't see details clearly but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was Severus. She got up and dashed out of the library, down the stairs and out the door. She wasn't really dressed for going outside and her cloak was still in her room, but she didn't feel like going back just to change.

It took her a little while to find him. The gardens were a maze, literally, and not an easy one either. It wasn't helped that every time she worked out the formula used to plot it the thing changed, sometimes while she was still in it. She found him eventually in a small alcove. He was standing there, staring off into space with a blank, cold expression on his face. He didn't appear to notice her arrival. She frowned, he looked rather forbidding. He probably wouldn't be happy having his thoughts interrupted. She shoved her hands into her pockets and found her gloves where she placed them after the snowball fight this afternoon. She grinned, oh he would be brassed but she couldn't resist. She crammed her fingers into the gloves and packed a quick snowball together. The snow here was much heavier, better packing, here then back home. She took careful aim and threw. It nailed him, good and hard on the shoulder. He spun around and had his wand in hand the look on his face was priceless. She giggled. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

He stared at her a moment before putting his wand away muttering "Gryffindors" like a curse.

"I'm sorry." She said "I saw you from the window and thought you might like some company."

"It's all right." He said giving her a small smile that still looked a little sad.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing important." He shrugged. "Do you have any plans for Christmas Break?"

She frowned at the change in subject but decided that he would tell her what was wrong when he was ready. She was about to tell him about her family's party plans when she remembered Harry's question from earlier. _Maybe he was picking something up with all that Divination Dumbledore makes him take._ "Why?"

He shrugged. _Dismissive again, that means it's important. _"I am taking the lycanthrope project home with me. Father has a full potions laboratory and he said I could use it since he and Mother won't be there for the holidays. I was wondering if you would want to continue helping me with it over the break."

"Sure." She said without thought or hesitation. "But wouldn't your Slytherin friends have something to say about taking a Gryffindor home with you?"

"I'm sure they would have several things to say about me taking a Gryffindor home with me. Probably crude and involving numerous slaps on the back." He grimaced. "How about your Gryffindor friends? Surely they won't look favorably on consorting with the enemy?"

"I can hear it now." She giggled and imitated Ron's whine. " 'Snape? That' insert insult of choice 'Snape? 'Mione, what were you thinking?'"

"And what will you tell them?"

"I dunno. I guess…" She shivered violently in the cold air and Severus narrowed his eyes studying her.

"Where is your cloak?" he demanded, sounding exactly like his older self asking some hapless student about her homework.

"I – ah – I forgot it?" She stifled a giggle, she sounded exactly like aforementioned hapless student for the first time in her life.

"Gryffindors, don't have the sense to get in out of the rain." He growled and unbuttoned his cloak to swing it around her shoulders. The warmth that settled around her smelled just like him.

"But won't you get cold." She protested although she didn't want to give it back.

"I'll be fine." He said before turning her around by the shoulders "Now, let's both get inside before we freeze."

... ... ...

AN: Here we have the second SS/HG cliché that I couldn't manage to avoid, the potions project. Ah, well I tried. As always, please drop a review and tell me what you think of it.


	3. Culture Shock

**_Warning:_** This chapter gets a little graphic and if you aren't old enough to be watching it you aren't old enough to be reading it then either so please go read something else because the last thing I need is to be accused of contributing to the delinquency of a minor I don't even know. I have my hands full with the ones I do know as it is. Thank you for your cooperation.

Never Enough Time

Ch 3 Culture Shock.

Severus prowled around the library looking for Hermione. They made plans to meet in the library before heading down to the train together. _If she would just hurry up and get here._ He turned the corner and there she was with her suitcase slung over her shoulder with a makeshift strap that looked terribly uncomfortable. She was tucking something on a gold chain down her shirt but he couldn't see clearly what it was. Odd though, he could've sworn he just looked here.

"There you are." He said.

She let out a small shriek and clasped her hands over her heart. "God, Sev, don't do that! Am I late?"

"No, but we'd better hurry if we want decent seats."

"Right." She fussed a moment with her suitcase before finally seeing sense and letting him carry it. Stubborn Gryffindor. They joined the laughing throng of students heading for the train. After a pair of first-year Hufflepuffs tore between them screaming with laughter she tucked her arm through his to keep from being separated again. "I think someone forgot to tell them that Hufflepuffs are supposed to be unassuming."

He discreetly steered her away from Potter, Black, and their knot of Gryffindors also making their way home for winter break. He really didn't want to get involved in an altercation with her fellow Gryffindors, not with Hermione right there watching. And with Gryffindors being Gryffindors they would probably enjoy making a public spectacle of themselves just to embarrass him in front of her.

Once inside they settled into a small compartment. Hermione gazed absently out the window and he glared at anyone who looked like they might entertain the notion of joining them. They sat together in comfortable silence. It was one of the things he really liked about Hermione, she didn't feel the need to fill silence with chatter or make it uncomfortable. Some of their best moments were sitting together in the silence. After the train had been moving for a few moments she jumped up and pulled a roll of cloth out of her robes, apparently she had been carrying them tucked under her arm. "I'm going to change, be right back."

She was out the door before he could ask. That little bundle of cloth did not look like enough to be a proper dress. Maybe she had shrunk it? That must be it. Though why she would want to change on the train was beyond him. Tying a corset looked difficult enough without trying to do so in a shifting, moving train-car. He watched the moving landscape waiting for her to return.

"Back." She said, closing the compartment door behind her.

"That was fast, did you forget some-" he started to ask but the words froze in his throat as he turned and got a good look at what she was wearing. She was not wearing a proper dress. Or robes. Or any derivative thereof. She was dressed in dark blue trousers of some coarse material that had rivets along the seam drawing his eyes along the curve of her leg. The gray…top, for lack of any better term, looked old and ragged. Someone had ripped off the hem, sleeves and collar leaving gray threads to unravel freely. When she raised her arms up to tie her hair back with a scrap of cheap lace a wide expanse of her stomach was exposed. He knew he should look away, it was the only proper thing to do. But he found himself unable to move. He couldn't shift his eyes from this new Hermione as things she had said over the past several months ran through his head dragging him forcibly to its unwanted conclusion.

"What?" She asked, noticing his stare.

"Your're…" she finished her task and lowered her arms, running her hands down her front to tug the top back into place. He was very, very glad for concealing school robes. "You're a mud-"

"Say it and you'll wish you were back at Hogwarts." She said crisply, the threat naked in her tone.

_Mudblood. _"Muggleborn."

"Yup, first witch in the family." She said it proudly. He forced himself to turn to look out the window, away from her bright, happy, unashamed face. _But, 'Hermione' is a witch's name._ A small, confused voice protested in the back of his mind as he tried to understand this new version of the girl he thought he knew.

"Why would I wish I was back at Hogwarts?"

"So the mediwitch could put you back together again." He turned to look at her face careful not to let his eyes slid down to take in the tight cut of her clothes. She has a familiar mischievous grin and a sparkle in her eyes. It was at the same time reassuring and disturbing. _She _was the same person that she was ten minutes ago. So what had happened?

"You know you can't cast spells outside of school." He said sternly.

"Who said anything about spells? I'd knock your lights out with my fist like I did the last pureblooded snot to insult me."

_Well, she's still a Gryffindor. _"What happened?"

"Not much." She shrugged "Got us both sent to the hospital wing, him with a busted nose and me with a sprained thumb. Let me tell you, I am so glad muggle parents don't have access to howlers otherwise I'd have never heard the end of it when my parents got McGonagall's letter."

"Mad at you for fighting?" He asked more because it seemed expected and he didn't know what else to do then because he really cared.

"No. Mad at me for getting hurt like that after they paid good money on self-defense class way back when." She snorted. "Like I could remember how to make a proper fist from when I was _seven_. I had to spend all the next summer in the dojo."

He leaned back and rubbed his eyes. This was going to be a long holiday. He asked about her family to keep her talking because he didn't want to find that the silences weren't as comfortable as they were before. Especially since he was beginning to get the distinct impression that any sense of discomfort was solely on his side of the pitch.

"Oh, my parents weren't too shocked. My dad said, and I quote 'I should've known she'd be interested in some field no one ever heard of' end quote." At his quizzical look she explained. "My family throws out more than it's fair share of geniuses and almost everyone goes into a completely new field. We're starting to run out of options. My parents are wonderful about this whole thing. Well, except for the bets on my N.E.W.T.S. results but they don't mean anything by it…I don't think."

"I'm sure you'll do well in charms and transfigurations…"

"Oh, no. I don't mean that." She laughed "They didn't bet on what classes I'd do well in. It's assumed that I'll break records in all of them. One way or the other."

"What do you mean?"

"This will take some explaining." She sighed. "Along with genuine geniuses in my family there's an icarus here and there. You know, someone who is really smart in school but leaves to live a mediocre life without using any of their potential. It's from mythology, Daedalus' son who fell into the sea after flying to high?"

"I know it."

"Anyway, My dad was one, could've been a neurosurgeon or something. That's a very specialized and very skilled muggle version of a mediwizard. But instead he marries my mum and becomes a dentist. Swears blind it was the best decision he ever made. So, you see, they are betting on when and if I will burn out. Whether I'll break the high records or the low. Yeah, overall my parents are really understanding about magic." She grinned, rather sheepishly. "And then there's always the threats…"

His eyebrows shot up _surely not_ "Threats?"

"Oh, you know the kind. 'Her-MI-o-ne GRAN-ger'" she said in an exasperated tone. " 'If those people from that Ministry have to come down here to put this house back together again ONE more time…' of course Mum never finishes 'cause then she might have to carry through with it. But last year I thought for sure I would be grounded for life. And it wasn't even…totally…my fault. How was I supposed to know Dragon's Blood would react so violently with Hydrochloric acid? It's a _base _they should've balanced out."

He stared at her in shock, the idea of adding Dragon's Blood to any type of acid… "Hermione, Dragon's Blood is a power booster it increases the properties of anything you add it to. And magical properties have priority over muggle."

"Yeah, I know that now, thanks." She said sarcastically. She continued talking and smiling as happy as she had been all day. And by the time the train rolled to a stop he was almost as comfortable in her presence as he had been before she changed clothes. But whenever the conversation lulled long enough for his attention to wander to her skintight trousers he felt his own grow more than a little tight.

When they got off the train she started for the luggage but he grabbed her arm and steered her away. "Don't bother a house-elf will get it."

"House-elf?" She asked, eyes wide and clearly startled. He felt relieved that, even in this small way, he wasn't the only one surprised by the day's revelations. "You have a house-elf?"

"Elves, plural." He corrected guiding her to the awaiting carriage drawn by a pair of night black horses with green fire dripping from their eyes. "And they belong to the family."

"Goodness." She said, though that comment may have been aimed more at the Night Mares than the information about house-elves. He helped her up into the carriage, although since she wasn't wearing voluminous skirts she possibly could have managed fine on her own. She was studying the interior of the carriage with open inquisitiveness that almost made him smile. He sat down next to her and rapped sharply on the roof once they were settled. That was the signal for the Night Mares and they set off at a smooth gait that was barely noticed by the passengers.

"Never been in one of these before?" He asked not bothering to hide his amusement.

"Not like this." She said enthusiastically, as if she were delighted by everything she saw. Being a Gryffindor, she probably was, they were charmingly simple that way. "I went on a buggy ride once as a kid but that was nothing compared to this."

The ride to Snape Manor was rather long and was in Severus' long standing opinion the worst part of the trip home. In this case though the excruciating long ride was actually a god thing as it gave Hermione all the time she wanted to poke around the tiny carriage. The manor itself was exactly what one would expect of the Snape line. A large rambling building that was rather dark and foreboding. Severus hated it, thought the cursed thing should be razed to the ground. Inexplicably Hermione was delighted with the place. He showed her to her rooms, which was a harder task than one might at first assume because, in her delighted curiosity, she kept wandering off and he would have to go find her. However once introduced to the small suite she seemed content enough to confine herself there for the time being. He paused at the door and considered how to most tactfully phrase his request. "Hermione, while we are the only ones currently in the house I am accustomed to formal dinners while home. So if you could please wear an appropriate dress."

"Dress?" She looked up from where she was exploring the bookshelves stocked with light reading material for their guests. "Not a problem."

"Thank you." He almost sighed with relief. "Dinner will be in the Parlor, I find the formal dining room uncomfortable for only two people. One of the house-elves will alert you when it is ready. Afterwards I will give you a tour of the place. Until then."

"Sure, later." He closed the door and closed his eyes resting his head against the wall trying to forget the perfect line of her body as she bent over to read the titles on the lower shelves. Didn't she know he was watching? Didn't she care? He took a deep breath to calm his raging hormones. He had to go get ready for dinner as well. A cold shower and change of clothes later and he was reasonably sure he could face Hermione across the dinner table. That is, until she actually walked into the parlor.

What she was wearing could, possibly, be called a dress. However there were no corsets, petticoats, or other accessories that he was accustomed to seeing swathed around the female figure. The midnight blue dress has a deep neckline that showed a generous amount of pale shoulder as well as the soft swell of the top of her breasts. The material was pulled taunt across her stomach before flaring out to swirl around her hips where it just stopped at mid-thigh. But his eyes didn't. Her legs were long and perfect and she wasn't wearing any shoes. Her bare feet sank into the thick carpet.

"That" He said tersely "is not a dress."

Her eyebrow quirked "well, it's certainly not trousers."

"It's not appropriate your…ankles are showing." He finished lamely, her ankles weren't the only things that dress was showing. A point evidently not lost on her either as she bent over slightly to look critically at her legs. She stretched one leg out a little to the side for further examination, which only showcased the delicate turn of her ankle and gentle curve of her calf. The low neckline dipped lower flashing even more of her cleavage as she bent over. It was then that his eyes rose high enough to see the mischievous glint in hers and the small smirk on her lips. She knew. That vixen knew what she was doing to him and was doing it deliberately.

He despised being manipulated and felt a sudden rage that she would toy with him. Although, it was rather difficult to feel anything outside of his heart hammering in his chest as his blood went rushing to somewhere other than his brain. He drew the tattered remains of his dignity and his iron self-control around himself as best he could and stalked from the room. He snarled "I'll be having dinner in my rooms."

... ... ...

Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes. She had spent the last hour locked in her rooms crying. But she'd had no one to blame but herself for teasing Severus. She forced herself off of the bed and went digging around the wardrobe for her school robes. It was her fault for upsetting him and now she was going to have to go apologize. She swung the heavy black material over the blue dress and put on a pair of loose white socks and her sensible school shoes. It clashed horribly and was an offense to good taste everywhere. But if that's what it takes…

"Dilly?" She asked, summoning a house-elf. "Where is Severus?"

"Young Master is in the study Miss Hermione." Did all house-elves speak in that horrible whine, she couldn't remember Dobby or Winky being that bad.

"Thank you. Could you direct me there please." Although she had long since given up on that childish campaign to free house-elves she was never less then painfully polite. As if she could make up for any thoughtless rudeness a house-elf may or may not have suffered. Dilly showed her the way with a minimum of carrying on about how he should be punished for this imagined slight or other. For which she was grateful, as she could never seem to get the hang of dealing with house-elves in that state and only seemed to make matters worse. She was beginning to suspect that they did so on purpose in order to annoy the wizards around them. Eventually Dilly brought her to a door on what must have been the opposite end of the house from her rooms. The study door was open and she could see that Severus was seated in a massive leather armchair reading. She knocked lightly on the door watching him carefully.

"Severus?" She could see his body tense and his jaw clench but he made no movement to raise his eyes from the page. Of course he wasn't going to make this any easier for her. She squared her shoulders and walked in without an invitation. She sat down across from him and debated how to say what she wanted to. _Best to keep it simple._ She decided.

"I'm sorry." _See, not hard at all. _It would help if he would acknowledge that she had spoken. Maybe he wanted an explanation. "I noticed you watching me on the train. I honestly had no idea my clothes would get that…any…reaction from you. I always wear that on the train ride to and from Hogwarts it's my favorite sweatshirt, and it's comfortable. I…" She blushed. "I liked knowing you were watching. And I only meant to tease you a little at dinner. I'm sorry, I didn't think…"

He snorted, "That's the Gryffindor motto 'I'm sorry, I didn't think.'"

She could feel her flush of embarrassment spreading. But at least he was talking to her now. She forged on ahead. "I didn't think that it would upset you that much. The school skirt is just as short."

He sighed and closed the book. "For one thing, the school skirts are a uniform. Girls have to wear them so a gentleman just grows accustomed to not looking. Secondly, the school robes tend to cover a multitude of sins, as I see you've noticed."

"Well, I don't exactly have any other robes, just my school stuff and the muggle clothes for weekends."

He shook his head. "I can't believe you actually wear that stuff in public."

"You are a prude." She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I wear my clothes in public, that is rather the point of clothing you know. But it's not like anyone is ever looking at me anyways."

"I was looking." He said softly.

"I know." She said matching his tone and looking up at him. The silence hung heavy between them and grew too intense. She had to look away. Her eyes wandered across the walls and shelves to finally land on a picture of a couple, the woman was very young, 16 at most, and dressed in a wedding gown there was an older gentleman, obviously a Snape, with salt-and-pepper hair. She could see the wind move through the trees in the background but the couple stood very still and solemn in the foreground. "Who's this?"

"My parents." She felt as if a weight was lifted off of her when he shifted his gaze to look at the picture. "That was taken on their wedding day."

"No kidding?" I thought he was her dad or something."

Severus gave her an odd look. "Why would you think that?"

"Well he's obviously so much older than she is."

"Only about twenty-five years or so." He shrugged. "That's pretty average. It usually takes a wizard twenty to thirty years to settle enough for marriage and a family. Witches don't often want to wait that long, even those with their own careers."

Hermione stared at him not sure weather to believe him or not. "It's true I can pull out the Ministry's census reports if you want."

"That's okay I believe you." She said. "Just trying to get used to the idea of such disparate ages to be normal."

"Oh, that's nothing." He snorted. "Dumbledore and Mcgonagall have a nearly fifty year age difference between them and they've been together forever. From way back when he taught Divination and she was still a student. The only reason they're not married now is because she's barren, they can't."

"Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster?" She asked, lagging a bit behind his exposition.

"And my Aunt Sylvia has almost-" He continued enjoying the shocked expression on her face."

"No, wait, stop." She protested. "I'm still trying to cope with the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall as a couple. That's like, as a kid, first realizing your parents, no your grandparents, had sex."

"Are having." He corrected.

"What?"

"Are having, they are still together." He grinned. "And you accuse me of being prudish."

"That was another matter entirely. This is perfectly justifiable, I mean 'Ewww.'" She covered her face with her hands briefly before peeking through her fingers. "Wait a minute if she was a student and he was a teacher…isn't that a little illegal?"

"No. Not as long as there is no favoritism shown they should be fine." He said making it sound like it should be obvious.

"And sleeping with a student is not favoritism in what way?"

"You really don't know anything about wizarding laws do you?"

"Apparently not as much as I thought I did. And it's not like Hogwarts really offers a 'Orientation and Naturalization to the Wizarding World' do they?"

"Hm, point. What I mean is the legal term 'favoritism' which is the using of one's authority to grant benefits or favors to someone beneath them in return for sex." He said. "Like a teacher give a student grades she doesn't deserve because she's sleeping with him. And Merlin help the man if it's found out that the girl is mentally incompetent and cannot say 'no' to an authority figure, the Ministry will have his head on a silver platter."

"So, just tell the girl not to say anything like the muggle pedophile's do and the teacher gets off scott free."

"First of all, how is sleeping with a sixteen-year old, mature young lady pedophilia. I don't see how someone suddenly is competent and mature one day where they weren't the day before just because a certain day marks them one year older." He held up a hand, silencing her protest. "Don't bother explaining, that's a secondary issue anyways. Primary issue, second point, do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep a secret at Hogwarts? Teacher snogs a student and I bet you everyone knows before the day is out. That's why it doesn't happen often, the relationship is scrutinized by everyone and it's just too stressful."

"Oh," She said, trying to incorporate all the new information but not quite able to get over her initial gut reaction. "It still seems…wrong somehow."

"Does it matter?" He shrugged "Not thinking of shagging one of the professors when we get back are you?"

_You have no idea…_She blushed, and tried to make light of the question. "Now really, who would I sleep with? Binns is dead, Dumbledore is apparently taken, and Flitwick…I don't want to think about Flitwick."

"How about Professor Illium? Is he your type?" Since she didn't recognize the name she shook her head. "So what is your type?"

"Hmmm," She thought for a bit before answering flirtatiously. "Dark-haired seekers."

He didn't miss a beat. "Hooch? Really? You didn't strike me as into girls."

"Severus!" She blushed to her ears.

"Okay, so she's going a little gray…"

"Severus!" He laughed.

"You set yourself up for that one Hermione."

"Oh, belt up." She crossed her arms and tried to stop blushing. "So when are you going to show me around?"

As winter break progressed they had fewer and fewer uncomfortable moments. The lycanthrope project helped a lot in that regard giving them both familiar ground to start from. She knew every thing going to be alright when she came out of the bath one evening to find Dilly laying her blue dress out for dinner, and the black school robes she had been wearing over her muggle clothes missing from the wardrobe apparently being 'cleaned.' She grinned as she pulled the dress over her head and practically danced on the way to the parlor.

Severus was already there, as usual, he stood next to the table. It was lit softly with only a couple of candles in the centerpiece. His dark eyes glittered as he helped her to sit down. She put as much grace and elegance into her movements as possible, silently thanking her mother for forcing her to go to those hated deportment classes. Dinner went by quickly in a blur of soft conversation and flickering shadows. At the end of the meal they stood and Severus said, "I have one last thing for you this evening before we retire, if you are so inclined."

"What is it?"

"It's on the sideboard there." He waved his hand to indicate behind her. She turned around to see a single candle lit. It illuminated a small stoppered vial on a silver tray. She picked it up and examined the dark liquid.

"What is it?" She asked. She could feel him standing at her back, his breath was warm on her neck.

"A contraception potion." He murmured softly kissing her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her, one sliding under the neckline to cup her breast the other slid gently down her stomach to brush her thighs before moving back up in long, smooth strokes. She gently pried the stopper off and swallowed the potion. She set the empty vial back on the tray and tried to turn around in his embrace but Severus' arms tightened around her holding her still.

"Patience." He said, pressing his mouth against the base of her neck. She relaxed against him letting his hands explore her body freely. She could feel him growing hard and pressing against her but he refused to rush. After what seemed like an eternity of soft touches he pulled away and she almost cried out at the loss. She turned and reached out one hand to…what?…stop him, pull him close, she wasn't sure. He caught her hand and bowed low to press his lips gently against her palm. He smiled at her shiver of pleasure from the courtly yet intensely intimate gesture. He straightened but kept her one hand clasped in his own. His other came up to wrap around her shoulders as he guided her out of the room. "This way, my lady."

He led her to his own suite of rooms. The bedroom was dark, illuminated only by the ruddy glow of the banked embers in the fireplace. It was then that her patience gave out and she pulled him into a fierce, scorching kiss. He held her tight against his body briefly before guiding her to the bed. She fumbled with the multitude of tiny buttons on his robes. She had to break off the kiss in order to squint at them and he chuckled at her frustrated snarl.

"Patience." He said, batting her fingers away and pushing her down onto the bed.

"Will you stop saying that?" She protested. "I'm tired of being patient."

"You are such a Gryffindor." He cut off any further comment with a deep kiss and roaming hands that commanded all of her attention. They explored each other's bodies with gentle touches and soft kisses as cloth gradually gave way to bare skin. By the time he settled himself above her she was filled with such an aching need that she sobbed when he hesitated "Please." Then he was gently moving inside of her and here was no more room for thought or breath for words.

... ... ...

When morning came Hermione was reluctant to open her eyes. There was a pleasant ache between her legs, and Severus was a line of warmth at her back as his long body curved around hers. One arm pillowed her head as it wrapped around to knead her breast. The other was somewhat…lower, his long fingers gently combing through the curls between her legs. She sighed happily.

"Content?" He asked, softly she could feel his voice rumbling against her back and his breath in her ear. She voiced her answer with a soft purr. He chuckled and pulled her closer, she could feel his length aroused and pressing into the small of her back. She rolled over and gave him a deep kiss before pulling back to look at her lover in the bright morning light. His baby-fine black hair was tousled and matted. His dark eyes glittered with the small smile that tugged on the corners of his lips. He reached out with his left hand to brush the hair back from her face. Her eyes widened in startled fear and she involuntarily flinched back. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

He reached for her but she pulled back from the shadow on his arm. It was fresh and livid, darkness branded into flesh. The Dark Mark lay bared on his arm.

... ... ...

AN: I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I think it's fun playing around with cultural norms and mores through fiction, and exploring preconceptions, misconceptions and prejudice is always a blast. Well, for me it is anyway. I hope everyone at least found it interesting enough to get them through to the sex at the end. * grin *


	4. Secrets

Never Enough Time

Ch 4 Secrets

Hermione stared at Severus as her mind pieced together all the little facts. Premise one, Severus was a spy for Dumbledor and, premise two, he was a genuine Death Eater before turning. Harry swore to anyone who would listen that Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater and she'd believe Harry before those sycophants at the ministry so it could be taken as true that, premise three, Lucius was then and is now a Death Eater. Premise four, Lucius and Severus were always having those little meetings and talks that she was excluded from. Conclusion, they were discussing Death Eater business. She had previously thought that that was just Lucius being a Malfoy, but if there was a purpose for those meetings…what was Severus now? And how could she have been so willfully blind?

"Hermione, love, what's wrong?" He didn't try reaching for her again but the concern was plain in his eyes.

"I…that…you're one of them?" She winced,_ oh, very eloquent._ "You're a Death Eater?" _Please, please God, let him be spying for Dumbledor already. Please._

"Yes." He said simply as if it were the most normal thing in the world, as if there were nothing wrong with it. He really was a Death Eater, right now, and probably the entire time she had known him.

"How could you?" She asked trying to understand how her Severus, intelligent, amusing wonderful Severus, could be a malicious Death Eater. It was easier to believe it of the older, bitter Professor Snape than the young man she made love to last night. "How could you follow Voldemort?" She asked spitting the name out through clenched teeth, forgetting to use the euphemisms that put other wizards more at ease. Severus winced a little, though probably more at her tone then the actual use of the name.

"Lord Voldemort," He said "Is leading a movement to purify the wizarding families and strengthen our fading society. We're losing out heritage with more and more mudbloods and half-breeds contaminating out culture."

His words in that matter-of-fact voice hit her like physical blows. Mudblood. Contaminating. "I…thought you cared for me."

"I do. I think you are wonderful. I love you, Hermione." She stared at him, trying to decipher his statements in relation with everything else. Last night those words would have had her soaring, now they just didn't make any sense.

"I don't understand." She admitted. "I'm muggleborn. If you really feel that way, how could you…how could last night happen?"

He gave her a quizzical look, as if he was having as much trouble understanding her as she was him. "Last night happened because I love you. I wanted you, and I thought that you felt the same way." He reached for her but she backed away to the edge of the bed. "I…Hermione, you didn't think anything more could ever come of us did you? Marriage…it just isn't an option, not for us. Beside the fact that I'm too young and my parent would never allow it, you're a mud-muggleborn. That would be against everything we stand for. But we can still be together…"

"Stand for?" She echoed weakly trying focus on something in his confusing morass of words. "Do you really think that's what Death Eaters are about? I've seen what they do, terrorizing muggles with hexes and curses."

"That's just a bit of fun." He shrugged. "And the Ministry obliviates the muggles so there's no harm done."

"No harm done?" Her voice in anger reached octaves normally beyond her scale. "That's bollocks. I've had to pick up the pieces of an obliviated muggle before. My cousin tried to fight back in a Death Eater attack, and even _after_ having the cruciatus curse cast on her she managed to break the bastard's arm." He tried to interrupt her to object but she continued on "Then the Ministry came in and obliviated everyone left and right. The memories were gone but not the fear. My cousin woke up screaming every night for weeks afterwards from the dreams of memories she no longer had. She became jumpy and afraid of her own shadow, and she didn't know why. So don't you dare tell me no harm was done. Casting curses on muggles, even stupid little schoolboy pranks, is abuse because the muggles can't even begin to understand what is happening to them, much less protect themse-"

He just rolled his eyes "Please, don't start going on about 'with great power comes great responsibility' like Dumbledor."

"How about 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'" She snapped. "Although I'm sure you would prefer the more Slytherin corollary 'Power delights, and absolute power is absolutely delightful.'"

He grinned and started to say something but she threw the first thing that came to hand at him, unfortunately it was nothing more potentially damaging then a pillow. "That was supposed to be a big, fat warning, you ass."

She got off the bed and started gathering her clothes. "Hermione, what are you doing?"

"I'm too angry to talk about this right now, if ever." She said in short clipped words "I'm going back to my room. Stay away from me."

For the handful of days remaining of their winter holiday the lycanthrope project lay untouched in the lab by either of them. Hermione spent the time locked in the guest rooms taking her meals there and reading books from the small collection provided to her. Sometimes the self-imposed isolation got to be too much for her and she left her tiny suite of rooms to roam the vast empty halls of Snape Manor. That was when she would encounter Severus. He always kept his distance but watched her with the hurt and confusion plain on his face. They would stand and stare at each other from the far ends of a vast corridor or empty room until one or the other broke away and fled back to the safety of their respective rooms.

When the time came to leave for Hogwarts Hermione dressed once again in her jeans and favorite sweatshirt. Dilly, or one of the other house-elves, had kindly attempted to mend the old shirt, which effectively stopped the fraying but she had to apply a minor severing charm to split open a small line down the front of the collar to get her head and hair through the opening. The end result framed a lot more of her cleavage then even she was accustomed to showing. _Sev is going to hate this…_She briefly debated changing her shirt to something more modest. She shook her head and flicked her hair over her shoulder. _Why should I change for him?_

Why should she expect him to change for her? _That's what this fight is really about isn't it?_ She asked herself. She wanted him to change for her. She wanted him to be someone he wasn't ready to be yet. She knew that he would turn against Voldemort, that he had enough bravery and honor to rival anyone in Gryffindor Tower. She knew it and she loved him for it. Even though he didn't know and he hadn't been through those trials yet. She wanted to be there for him, for when he would need her in the dark times ahead. Somehow she would see them through this.

The ride from Snape Manor was tense and uncomfortable as they both stared out opposite windows, neither one bending enough to speak to the other. She almost did. She almost broke down and apologized when he helped her down from the carriage with gentle hands but one glance in his cold eyes and she clamped her mouth shut. She had nothing to apologize for and nothing she could say would make him change everything he had believed in for his entire life. He would have to come to that realization on his own. And she would be there, waiting.

Once on the train he abandoned her and she insinuated herself into a group of Ravenclaws she didn't know. Within moments she was involved in a debate with one Leslie Lestrange (a scrawny, geeky young man with thick wire-rim glasses) over the separation between the wizard and the muggle worlds. It got to be very heated and drew quite a crowd as he argued that the two worlds were separate and distinct, and she told him he was full of it. Gravity didn't stop working just because you stepped into Diagon Alley and a dragon was still a dragon whether it was munching on a wizard or a muggle. A little second year asked what gravity was and she was so wound up she snapped at him "it's what makes you fall down, go boom" before explaining Newton's laws in detail. Lestrange snidely asked her to explain how _leviosa_ could possibly work if 'gravity' was so ironclad. She was about to reply when the seventh-year next to him cuffed him lightly "Externally applied force, you moron" before asking her if she was more inclined to apply Newton's laws of particle motion or wave mechanics to magic. At that point they were almost at Hogwarts and she begged off with having to change into her uniform. She really did not want to get into quantum theory with less then fifteen minutes available.

She was on her way back from the bathroom when the train pitched unexpectedly, sending her crashing into someone. An apology on her lips, she looked up into Peter Pettigrew's eyes. She flinched back automatically but he held her in a tight, clammy group and she couldn't get away. He frowned at her "I've heard of you. You're that traitor Gryffindor. Don't see you in the Tower much, prefer that greasy snake's bed?"

"Traitor." She snorted, "That's rich coming from you. And better a snake than a rat any day."

He grabbed her by her shoulders and slammed her against the wall. There was a wild look in his eyes, as if he wasn't quite sane. "What do you know?"

"I know I'll break your arms if you don't let me go." She snarled.

"Not without this you won't." he sail holding her wand out away from her "Now, tell me!"

She picked up her knee, not to catch him in the groin, which he seemed to expect, but to slam her foot down on his instep. Her properly formed fist shot out to catch him between the eyes and then, while he was still reeling, she kneed him in the groin. Voices were shouting and strong hands pulled her off of him. She fought back and clawed at the new targets before her mind registered James Potter and Sirius Black. After a few moments of unsuccessful grappling Black let her go and helped James get Wormtail to his feet. She ran and lost herself in the Ravenclaw crowd. As she followed them off the train she was careful to avoid both Gryffindors and Slytherins. It wasn't until she was back in her own time, appearing just minutes after she had left for the disastrous winter holiday with Severus, that she realized that Wormtail still had her wand.

Swearing loudly Hermione ran for the Divination Section. How could she have done something so stupid? She flipped through the ephemeris trying to remember. What day they got back from break? And what time?

She decided on later on that evening and, after a quick check to make sure she still had her return information in her pocket, she reset the time-turner. She checked the Hospital Wing first. Wormtail and Black were probably already out, but it never hurt to look. Sure enough they were already released. She headed towards Gryffindor Tower trying to come up with some way to get inside. She let out a startled yelp when someone grabbed her arm and dragged her into an empty classroom. She was slammed bodily against the wall and was very surprised to look up into Severus' angry eyes.

"I've had a very interesting conversation with Potter." He snarled "It turns out no one in Gryffindor knows who you are." He searched her face but she stood frozen, no words would come out of her mouth. "Then I start thinking about it. And I realized I've never seen you actually enter the Tower, I've never seen you go to classes or eat in the Great hall, none of your friends or family appear to have any names. Although your stories are very good, very realistic, that's all they are. Stories. You've been lying to me this entire time. Are you spying on me? Did Lord Voldemort send you to test my loyalty?"

"And that says what, exactly, about your Death Eater friends?" She snapped, only to realize that that was the wrong thing to say a second too late. "Look, Sev, I can explain…"

"Don't call me that. Only my friends call me that." He pulled away from her and pressed something into her hands, her wand. "I don't want to listen to anymore of you lies. Stay away from me. I never want to see you again."

"Sev- Severus, please."

"I never want to see you again." He said again, the ice in his voice making her shiver. "If you come near me I will kill you. Don't think I will feel remorse, Lord Voldemort has taught me well and you are only a mudblood."

"So be it." She said, her voice thick with unshed tears. She turned away from him and tugged on the golden chain around her throat. Her hands were shaking so badly she had to place the parchment from her pocket on the desk to read it. Severus watched her, he stood completely still and his expression was impassive. She set the time-turner for her home time and twisted the key. And he was gone, the empty classroom remained completely unchanged otherwise. Her legs collapsed out from under her and the tears that blurred her vision spilled out over her cheeks. That was how Professor McGonagall found her some indeterminate time later. It could have been five minutes or five hours.

"Ah, Miss Granger. I was hoping to catch you before you left for the winter holiday." The older woman paused uncertainly as she finally got a solid look at Hermione's state. "My dear, is there anything the matter?"

"I…ah…just had a break up with my boyfriend." it was the closest she could get to the truth, She stammered, before straitening and brushing the tears from her eyes. "What can I help you with Professor?"

"I've gone over some of the schedules for after the holidays and straitened a few things out so you won't be needing the time-turner anymore, of course it will have to be returned to the Ministry immediately. Miss Granger, are you quite alright?"

Hermione's hand clenched convulsively over the golden hourglass and she could feel the blood drain from her face. _No, I have to see him again! _"I'm fine." Her voice was a little shaky but her hands, while reluctant, still unclasped the chain and passed the time-turner to McGonagall.

"Are you sure?" McGonagall squeezed her hands, a gesture of comfort Hermione supposed, as she took the time-turner away. "If you want to talk about it…"

"It's okay, just need myself a good cry and time to get back on my feet." Hermione smiled, not really feeling the optimism in her words.

"That's the spirit." McGonagall gave her a brief, brisk hug. "Now, lets get you on the train. Wouldn't want to miss it."

McGonagall left Hermione to the tender mercies of her friends, admonishing them to take good care of her after having a bad breakup. Harry and Ginny were understanding and supportive. Ron just about had a fit but Ginny gave him a look and said in a stage whisper "Kneecaps, Ron. Kneecaps." It shut him up. Harry re-iterated his offer to beat up Sev, all she had to do was name names and point fingers. The mental image of Harry threatening Professor Snape was more then she could take and she broke down into teary giggles.

Once home she lost herself in helping her mum decorate the house for the party. Christmas itself went by in a blur of bright colors and laughing faces. Her Uncle Dion passed her a couple of whiskies under the table fore passing out under the table himself so she spent the evening pleasantly fuzzy. By the time everyone left the party was considered a great success, especially seeing as the house was still in one piece, more or less.

The owl had come and gone while she was sleeping off the alcohol. She woke up with the small claw marked package clutched to her chest and a pounding headache. The package had no return address and only her name written on it in an elegant angular hand. She started to open the package but thought better when every movement made her head swim. Luckily a simple hangover remedy could be made from ingredients easily found in a well-stocked muggle kitchen. Raw egg white, horseradish sauce, dill, cayenne pepper, blend with cinnamon stick and drink. Hermione frowned at the resulting sludge. It smelled as bad as the poly-juice. She pinched her nose and downed the potion, tasted worse.

"That'd get anyone to swear off the bottle. I know I'll never listen to Uncle Dion _ever_ again." She said to no one. "Wonder if that isn't the point."

Her head did feel clearer though, as did her sinuses, and in a few moments the dull pounding ache had receded to nothing. Now she turned her attention to the small parcel she woke up with. The brown wrapping contained a small book bound in wine-red leather, there was no title on the cover or spine. It appeared to be a diary. Opening the book she saw the first page was over-large and had to be unfolded. It was the diagram she had written out for the time-turner in order to return to her time after the holiday she spent with Severus. The parchment was sewn into the binding and had obviously been there for a very long time. She refolded the aged paper careful with the crumbling edges. The next page was part of the book itself. "Dear Hermione," the book was addressed to her. She flipped through the next few pages, the book was filled with letters to her.

_1-21-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_This is harder to say than I can imagine. I'm sorry. I was suspicious and angry, two conditions that bring out the worst in Slytherins. I should have listened to your explanations. I should never have threatened you, I couldn't have done it anyway. I should never have let Potter talk me into doubting you. It's taken me some time to figure everything out but, eventually, I did. I know all about time-turners and about you being from twenty years in the future. That is what that paper means, doesn't it? I don't know what you were doing here or why and I don't care. Just, please, come back to me. I miss you. I never knew what a terrible mistake I had made until it was too late and you were gone. Please come back, I still love you._

_1-27-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I still look for you in the library. I sit in my chair across from where you usually slept and wait. I keep hoping that I'll look up one day to see you there. I still love you._

_2-21-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_You're not coming back are you? I will not beg you any more than I already have but do know that I still love you._

_5-15-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_It's been a while since I last wrote. Every evening I take out this little book and sit at my writing desk with a glass of whiskey and compose epistles to you. Something so breathtaking and moving that it will bring you to tears and draw you back to me._

_In the end both the glass and the pages are empty. Did you ever love me? I don't remember you ever saying the words though my heart shouted them every time I saw you. Maybe you didn't love me and that's why you left, maybe you just needed an excuse._

_6-30-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I would like to imagine that we could have depended on our intelligence and mutual understanding to see the way past those obstacles I created. _ _Great lovers we may not have been destined to be but we were great friends. Do you think we would be still? If you were here? I would like to think so. I would like to hope so. Especially now, when I find myself needing a friend to talk to, you were one of the few who would listen to me, and I think the only one who came close to understanding me. So I hope you don't mind if I consider that you are still my friend and write to you with such familiarity. I just needed to tell someone._

_I am in love._

_I know this must seem strange discussing my current love with the woman of my past affections, but I have to tell someone who would care. I met her through Society, some gala or other that Mother is always dragging me off to. She is a fifth-year at Beaubatons and quite beautiful. She moves with a grace rarely seen outside of creatures of pure magic. She is a wonderfully, intelligent girl, and I find it amazing that this beautiful creature is interested in me._

_I look over what I have just written and realize that I am babbling. I, Severus Snape, have been reduced to a babbling idiot by a pair of sky-blue eyes. I should give it a rest before I repeat myself much more._

_7-12-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I am truly a fool._

_She was everything I accused you of being, and more. There's something to be said about the Gryffindor approach to romance, a quick shag in an empty classroom and no tears in the morning._

_9-20-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I finally understand your warnings about power. It does delight, and corrupt, the sweet bait that hides the poison. I've done some research, and it turns out that "Lord Voldemort" is a half-breed himself. All of his rhetoric is just empty words to entice his followers to give him the only thing he wants, power._

_I don't know what to do. I wish you were here, Gryffindors may be a bit idealistic at times but you can usually depend on one to find the "right" thing to do in a given situation. Maybe I should talk to Dumbledore, he's the only other Gryffindor I know of with any common sense._

_11-12-79_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I spoke with Dumbledore as I said I would. He and a small group of other wizards have been concerned about Voldemort and his followers. I have continued my associations with the Death Eaters and pass on what information I can to them. In order to facilitate the communication between us I have taken on an apprenticeship with Figg and am staying at the school._

_1-5-80_

_Dear Hermione,_

_Voldemort is a madman, a paranoid madman with delusions of grandeur. He knows about Dumbledore and his "Order of the Phoenix" and has charged me with spying on them as it is well known that they are centered at the school, and as an apprentice I have more freedom of movement then the students. Unfortunately when I do not bring him any information of consequence he has taken to punishing me, sometimes severely. The cruciatus curse is truly intolerable and every time I fear that I will tell Voldemort of my deception. But I remember your tale of your cousin, even though I hope it is false at times for her sake, I take strength from the knowledge that if she could endure this so can I. And I do not speak. I would like to meet your cousin, she must me a strong woman._

_Voldemort's paranoia has reached new heights, he keeps a seer locked in a cage. I've had to feed her a couple of times and the woman is totally batty but I think her mind was gone long before Voldemort got his claws into her. At least she remembers her name, Sybil Trelawney. Dumbledore did some looking and apparently she really is a true seer, she's had one, count them, one recorded true vision. Now Dumbledor wants me to rescue her to put her visions under the Order's control. Personally, I would rescue a dog from that cage if I could but I can't even rescue myself much less someone else. _

_6-27-80_

_Dear Hermione,_

_The Madame Trelawney is apparently as gifted as we all thought she wasn't. She had a vision, Voldemort and all of the "inner circle" Death Eater, myself including, heard it. It is indescribable, the tones of her voice that make your soul shiver. It was a true vision, she spoke of Voldemort's death and rebirth at the hands of a child. She gave several oblique hints as to who the child is but piecing this puzzle together is even worse than sifting through her usual babble of nonsense. I would tell you what she said but in eighteen years I imagine the problem is rather academic. Not to mention that if I have to go over that insane woman's verses one more time I will become physically and violently ill. So, please, if you know, come back and tell us, if only to save what is left of my sanity. But I suppose you can't do that. That's why you never mentioned names or gave any real datable information in your stories isn't it? Well, it's all for the best I assume. I hope the brat gets him good. Who ever it is, I wish him the best._

_9-12-80_

_Dear Hermione._

_We finally found the brat. Dumbledore figured it out actually. Apparently he has a touch of what Trelawney has a lot of and got some inside help from whoever deals in futures and visions. For once in my life I'm actually wishing I had taken more of Divination rather then escaping with the required minimum. Anyways, it turns out the brat is James Potter's son. James and Lily were suitable shocked. Lily was all in favor of doing anything Dumbledore asked in order to protect her baby but James was being stubborn. He thought they should be an example for the other wizards to not bow down to fear tactics and threats. I had to point out that it was his child's life he was putting on the line. (Yes, I was unfortunately in attendance at this little tête-à-tête.) Dumbledore thought I could help to persuade James otherwise but he disregarded any warnings from me, even after reminding him what I owed him. (Don't ask, ever.) They walked away with the issue unresolved but with plans to discuss it again after everyone has had time to think the matter over. Hopefully between the two of them Dumbledore and Lily will be able to convince James. I am certain I can be of no further use._

_12-15-80_

_Dear Hermione,_

_Finally, the Potters are going under the fidelius spell. I think Lily did it. Telling James that she was taking her son into hiding with or without him. The fool finally caved in but insisted that Black be their Secret Keeper. I, of course, objected strenuously. Black has already proven himself unworthy of such trust to my mind at least. But everyone else agreed to the appointment. Why Dumbledore insists I attend these meetings is beyond my understanding. No one ever takes my, very legitimate, concerns seriously. I just hope for the boy's sake that my fears about Black are as groundless as they proclaim._

_10-25-81_

_Damn that bastard Black. He knows, Voldemort knows. I knew this would happen. I need to do what I can for damage control. If I don't come back I hope someone gives you this book. Hermione, I do still love you. I just had to tell you that one last time._

_11-6-81_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I think I aged decades in the past couple of weeks doing what I could to contain the disaster. I don't understand what happened but Voldemort is gone, and the boy is still alive though his parents are not. In the resulting confusion I managed to drag the Madam Trelawney from that blasted cage and to the school. Everyone there was in as much confusion as the Death Eaters and I got five conflicting answers from any given three people I asked. Eventually, I found Dumbledor in Professor Figg's apartments as she was packing all of her personal belongings. He greeted me with the Potions Maser Certificate and Professor Figg's position. He bestowed on Trelawney (who was still clinging to my arm as if her life depended on it) the Divinations Professorship. I think the appointments stunned both of us and Figg was handing me the keys to the storeroom before I started protesting. Trelawney, strangely enough, followed my lead although her protestations were a bit more scattered and illogical. Dumbledore took us both in hand and played up to our prides until we couldn't say no. Thinking back, I can't help but wonder if maybe he shouldn't have been a Slytherin._

_11-10-81_

_Dear Hermione,_

_Of course it's not over. Many Death Eaters were captured after the Inner Circle dissolved. Although many Society wizards managed to avoid or, I suspect, pay off the aurors. A number of the arrests were due in no small part to my work for the Order and I'm not the only one talking. Rumor has it that the Ministry is coming for Trelawney and myself. I would run but I've nowhere to go. Soon I expect to be sharing Black's cell in Azkaban._

_I have told Dumbledor about you and asked him to give you my letters in case of my death. I should have asked him before but the idea only recently occurred to me. Sometimes I wonder if this is why you never came back to me. You must have known the outcome of this mess. Maybe I don't survive and you couldn't face it. Although that's not very Gryffindorish behavior and I can't see you doing anything but facing the future head on, even if it's the past. I wish there were some way of locking my memories of you away from a Dementors touch. I don't want that filth to sully the time I spent with you. Those were the happiest moments of my life._

_11-13-81_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I have no idea how Dumbledor did it but the Ministry has left both of us to the Headmaster's care. The Minister was obviously not very happy about it. I worry about what this rift will mean for Dumbledor and the school though he assures me that it is none of my concern. He has also confined me to the school grounds until further notice least some over-zealous auror arrest me before Dumbledor's associates in the Ministry can "tidy up" the matter of my record. I find the fact of my continued freedom, no, my continued existence to be exhilarating even under these conditions. I wish you were here to celebrate it with me. Please, don't take any words I may have said in haste or stress too seriously._

What followed were letters written every couple of days apart that seemed more like diary entries than a correspondence. In them Severus detailed the everyday life of a Hogwarts teacher. He dissected his fellow professors with his usual insight and wit, he told stories of the students' mishaps and discoveries. Sometimes he even discussed his old classmates, such as Narcissa's marriage to Lucius when the paternity of her child was determined. Apparently, she ambushed him with enough fertility charms to drop a litter if he so much as looked at her. Hermione couldn't help but smile at that. She had spent a lot of time with Narcissa in that limbo of "go away but not too far" and it was nice to see friends get what they want, even if there was no accounting for taste. Severus was generous enough to give her a bit of background on the laws of the situation, as well. Wizards are apparently not the most fecund group (the Weasley's being the exception that proves the rule) and when a couple was found to produce viable offspring they were encouraged, sometimes forcefully, to marry and continue doing so. The diary entry type of letters continued on for several more years until

_9-15-83_

_This has to stop. I am truly pathetic, I go through my days thinking "I must remember to tell Hermione this" or "I wonder what Hermione would think about that." Regardless of if you ever see these letters if you truly cared for me you wouldn't have left me so easily. I have to stop building up the fantasy of a woman who does not, never has, and never will exist. So this is my last letter. This has to stop. Right now._

_9-1-92_

_Dear Hermione,_

_You are here. This is just strange. I am writing to the young woman I remember after just seeing you in the Great Hall a child. I couldn't help but hope that you would be sorted into Slytherin where I can keep an eye on you. But I knew better, and so did that hat. It's Gryffindor for you my girl, no doubt about it._

_And that Potter boy. He is James all over again, another Gryffindor of course. I don't know what the hat was deliberating so long for it should have been obvious. He's going to be trouble I can see it, who knows what idealistic tripe he's been spoon-fed wherever Dumbledore stashed him all these years. _

_And please tell me Longbottom is not the inept potions partner I found so entertaining. Those stories are giving me nightmares now._

_9-5-92_

_Dear Hermione,_

_Any sentiment I may have expressed regarding wanting you closer to me I hereby rescind. I don't remember you being this annoying. I don't think that even I managed to be this annoying. Please, let this just be a phase. One of these days you will wrench that arm out of it's socket, and I will be there, and I will laugh. And, Dear Merlin, what happened to your teeth? Or hasn't happened yet, however that works out. I'm sure even muggles should be able to do something to fix that._

_2-16-96_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I keep having this re-occurring nightmare where Potter and Weasley get you killed before I get the chance to strangle you myself for putting me through this._

_10-19-98_

_Dear Hermione,_

_Albus and Minerva are up to something. They've been giving me that look. You know the one, the one you Gryffindors get when you're trying to be secretive. Then I found out about the time-turner, from you. Actually it fell out of your shirt when I had to drag you back up to Gryffindor Tower, just like old times._

_By the way, I do realize that you usually sleep with your books but that thing really should be kept in the library, in a cage. If I have a permanent scar..._

_12-29-98_

_Dear Hermione,_

_I wasn't going to send this to you, too much of this is too private and too personal. But I overheard Albus and Minerva discussing your condition. Minerva was so very ingenuous, remarking that no one had even known you had a boyfriend. I sometimes wonder what and how much Albus shares with her._

_The argument happened so long ago the pain, for me has dulled but I forget it would not be so for you. And you deserve the apology as it was intended. I thought of ripping out pages, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. _

_ Maybe I won't send this after all._

... ... ...

After getting off the train she headed strait for the dungeons, with the letters book tucked under her arm and her heart in her throat. She had to explain, to tell him that she did love him. Ever since she received the book he was all that she could think about. She had tried a dozen times to write her feelings out but he was right. It was hard, harder than anything she had ever tried before in her life. All she ended up with was crumpled parchment and wasted ink. She had agonized over it for so long that, the next thing she knew, the winter holidays were finished, and somehow she had to face him.

Severus' office door was open and he sat as his desk reading. She rapped lightly on the door watching him intently.

"Seve- um- Professor Snape?" She asked, hesitantly, uncertain how to address him. She saw him tense but he did not shift his eyes from the book he was reading.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" He asked curtly at her silence.

"I, um, got your letters…" She trailed off, his back stiffened he clenched his jaw momentarily, he finally looked up from his book. He was harder to read then he used to be, but judging from the look in his hooded eyes this conversation would be no easier on him than it was on her.

"I did not send them expecting any return, Miss Granger." He said, "I believe you already made it clear that familiarity from me would not be accepted or appreciated."

"I…I though…" _I thought you still loved me. _She shivered, the love he professed in his letters was gone from his cold eyes and her hopes came crashing down around her. "I thought to return this to you. So you needn't worry about someone seeing it who shouldn't."

"Very _thoughtful_ of you Miss Granger." He said dryly. He took the small book from her and studied it briefly before turning and tossing it into the fire. The stench of burning leather and vellum filled the small office making it almost unbearable. She fought to not clamp her fingers over her nose while Severus appeared unaffected. "If there is nothing more?"

He raised an eyebrow and indicated the door. His voice was emotionless and cold. She fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze but held her ground though she wanted to run back to Gryffindor Tower. "I came to apologize, as well. I would have gone back, but…"

"But Professor McGonagall took the time-turner away, I know." He said. At her surprised look he explained, "I cornered the Headmaster and he told me what he knew of the matter. He thought…well, that doesn't matter. You have nothing to apologize for, so excise any guilt you may have. It is not your fault."

"Yes, it is." She said sitting down. "It's all my fault. I never should have gone back there in the first place, but I did. I should have told you the truth, all of it not the carefully censored version, but I didn't. Maybe it could have made a difference, made everything turn out better if you had known the whole truth."

"Maybe it would have all happened that way regardless of what you did or did not do." Severus came around the desk to kneel by her chair. He held her chin in a firm grip and gently forced her head up to look at him. "I realize that this may be hard for a Gryffindor to believe but the burdens of the world do not rest on your shoulders alone."

She could feel her lower lip tremble with the effort to not cry. "But Harry's parents are dead. Black spent years in Azkaban and now exile. And you h-hate me…"

"I do not hate you, Hermione." He brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. The familiar gesture caused a few tears to escape and slide down her cheeks. "As for the rest, well, you did what you thought was best, and perhaps it was. Paradoxes and time loops are very dangerous, unstable things. The potential damage your knowledge could have caused is unthinkable." His tone shift from consolatory to lecturing actually made her feel a little better. "I imagine most other Gryffindors wouldn't have hesitated in denouncing Pettigrew or mucking about in other areas they didn't fully understand. Overall, you did well by keeping your influence to a minimum. I'm sure the world at large would not have noticed your presence or absence one way or the other."

"Would you?" she asked softly, half-hoping he didn't hear.

"My life would have been bereft." He said in a smooth voice empty of emotions.

"Severus, I…" She grasped his hand, but he shushed her.

"It doesn't matter. The boy I was is long gone. He disappeared completely the day I realized the truth behind Voldemort's lies."

"Good." She said firmly and smiled at the surprise that flashed briefly in his eyes. "That boy was an arrogant ass and you are better off without him. Severus, I love you. You, for who you are and what you've been through, not the spoiled little rich kid who had to bite his tongue to not call me a mudblood."

"Hermione-" She leaned forward and silenced him with a kiss. It was gentle at first he quickly deepened it impressing onto her all of his loneliness and restrained passion. When they finally broke away for air, his voice was rough and breath ragged "I thought you said that this was wrong."

"Yes, very wrong." She confirmed, her breathing just as harsh. "Any minute now my knee-jerk reaction will kick in and I will run screaming from the room." Instead she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into the crook of his neck. He pulled her off of the chair, pressing her body against his. He gently stroked her hair and whispered endearments in a language she didn't know. She started to pull away but he held her tighter in protest.

"No, I have missed you far too long to ever let you go that easily again."

She smiled and kissed him. "So, how long do we have before the gossiping hordes descend?"

"Considering the pitter-patter of little feet I just heard running down the hall, I'd say we'll be lucky to remain unmolested by lunch."

"So, we'd better make due with the peace and quiet while we can." She said, tucking her head against his shoulder.

"What an absolutely marvelous idea." He remarked as his hand slid under her skirt.

... ... ...

AN: And that is all. I would like to thank you for reading, and reviewing. I guestimated the dates so if anyone knows better by canon please don't tell me or I'll feel compelled to go over the entire timetable involved. And for anyone who needs it KIDS DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME re: the hangover remedy, I made it up and I don't know what it will do to you. Oh, one last thing, check out Didodikali's pics especially Time Enough for Love I have a link to her site in my author profile.


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